Lesley Grant, founder and director of
Marin Mindfulness
a unique community cooperative program that teaches mindfulness and
loving-kindness practice to parents, teachers and children,
preschool-preteens, speaks about how she is adapting mindfulness and
applied mindfulness practices for children, parents and co-parenting
couples, toward developing a culture of empathy.

She says: “Parents who practice mindfulness can develop the
capacities to raise children who seek creative non-violent solutions to
problems.” Mindful family relationships and both parents and children’s
peer relationships are a foundation of a culture of empathy.
Sub Conference: Education
(Mindfulness)

(Video
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Lesley
Grant is the founder and director of Marin Mindfulness, a cooperative
program teaching mindfulness and applied mindfulness to parents,
children and teachers, which has served nearly 1,200 people during the
last 10 years. The program is under the mentorship of Spirit Rock
teacher Guy Armstrong. Lesley has both practiced Dharma and taught
adults and children for over 30 years. Graduating from CIIS with a
thesis in East/West psychology education, she developed a
mindfulness-based somatic therapy program in a neurology clinic in 1984,
practicing in medical clinics for 12 years. She also served as the
internship director for a yoga-based stress management program in
medical and mental health settings, as part of an East/West psychology
Master's program through Sonoma State University, and then ordained as a
Buddhist Nun. She returned to lay practice as a parenting godmother in
2003. She is a California certified early childhood teacher and director
and has mentored teachers during the past 14 years.

Welcome I'm Edwin Rutsch, Director of the Center
for Building a Culture of Empathy. This is Short Stories for Nurturing Empathy:

Here is a story by Lesley Grant . Lesley is the founder and
director of Marin Mindfulness, a cooperative program teaching
mindfulness and applied mindfulness to parents, children and teachers,
which has served nearly 1,200 people during the last 10 years.

Nurturing Empathy Stories: Mindfulness, Children, Anger & Aggression

1. Mindfulness: Helps Child with Anger & Aggression

I.Story of the Anger Fish

II.Children saw Columbine shooting on Television- practice I did
with them

What “Mindfulness Cooperative “ and how
they Help Build a Culture of Empathy

Empathy from children to a stress parent-
mindful breathing from the car seats

Parents mindfulness empathy for each other
at pick up time,

Circle of parents some moving quotes about
how community of parents helps them.

Nurturing Empathy Stories:
Mindfulness, Divorce & Co-parenting

4. Mindfulness- Divorce and Co-parenting
Divorcing couple in conflict over child custody – practice applied
mindfulness
and really seeing and empathizing with each other hurt resolve the
impasse and
become skillful co-parents

a.Loving-Kindness
Practice & Empathy for a pregnant mom victim of family violence ,
lose of her partner heals family –Mom and child practice
loving-kindness

b. How the children responded to the child going
through this with empathy & generosity-family healing

Nurturing Empathy
Stories: Mindfulness& Preventing Child Abuse

5. Mindfulness: and Preventing Child Abuse

Dad with history in his own childhood of having been
abused and his story and the staged house- empathy story

a. Dad suddenly saw how little he
was- empathy story

b.
Parents have told me mindfulness helps prevent child abuse

Nurturing Empathy
Stories: Mindfulness helps Children
with Fear

6. Mindfulness and Self- Empathy helps Children
with Fear

a.A
child who sometimes has frightening nighttime seizures learns how to
use mindfulness to calm her fears so she can sleep at night.

b.The
stick floating down the river- image for children working with
thoughts

c.You
can pick up the stick to did a hole- just like you can pick up the
thought and use it to solve a math problem

d.Or you can let the thought go down the
river

e.The
hamster in the hamster ball and picking up the hamster and scratching
it behind the ears. (image for children working with feelings

f.Children’s quotes help explain how this
helps develop empathy for others.